Mar 22, 2009

People tend to brag about their 'famous' ancestors no matter how far away in their bloodline that famous/rich/important relative is. It's human, but a bit silly.

Each time someone would tell me that they were related to a famous painter or a royal member, my father would remind me that "if you follow any family tree long enough, you will find a famous person for sure, but also a thief or an assassin".

I always loved that remark because -probability wise- is very accurate. We even played a game naming all the good and bad things you have chances to have in a family tree, adding to the good side a writer, a hero, or a poet. To that list we could also add, easily, "an inventor". Maybe not Thomas Edison, but with so many things that have been invented in the world since we decided to walk straight, chances are we all have an inventor in our family.

But what if you come from a long line of inventors? "Inventor" is not like "lawyer" or "doctor" it may not be so easy to follow into the footsteps of your ancestors. And..., can you invent a kin? Or re-invent a relationship with your parents?

"Inventing Kin", a movie by Fro Rojas and Andy Negrin that will premiere in Miami in April (date TBD) explores some of those questions.

The main character of this film has a legacy of silly inventions, some from her father and some from her grandfather. She is completely decided to add to the family line by creating something but at the same time she is trying to 'invent' some type of connection with her aloof father.

Inventions are the central theme of this film. Important or silly, real or emotional, the search for a creative idea -useful or not- is a common thread in the story. It also reminds us that inventions are created not just for their utility: we invent things to amuse ourselves and/or to avoid being bored and, -a lot of times- to get closer to someone (think poetry or music).

Creativity, emotions and a touch of comedy, "Inventing Kin" definitely seems like a movie to see. The team behind it is not new when it comes to short films; their previous work ("PENCIL FIGHTING: the life and times of team balderdash") won 4 "Best Show Film" awards and some of the crew comes from the advertising world.

Stay tuned, in the next days we will have an exclusive interview with the movie's director (Fro Rojas) and we will have more on "Inventing Kin"!

1 comment:

Without question snob people are much more coward than shy people that at list try to accept and face their real difficulties. While the others try to hide their flaws and pretend that their problems do not exist. That they have marvelous attributes that are indeed worthless. They do not dare to stop pretending they are somebody probably because if they find who they really are they will hate it.

Finally managed a little propulsion in the right direction, that direction that's always changing, never linear, looking very much from a certain angle like coming full circle. But it isn't. You don't travel on the line. You orbit around and along it. The helical coil of self-reinvention, Others-Reinvention, and plain invention. Identity reconstruction, as someone once put it. The real trick is to hang on tight enough to survive the ripping centrifugal force.